Benjamin.my … and his miscellaneous takes on life.

How To Put On Weight For The Skinny People #1: Fix Your Daily Routines

Back in the end of 1999, I remember a phase where I was growing taller rapidly, eventually hitting a height of 172cm. That growth was so obvious that, from sitting the first row in class for years, I was moved all the way back. I was really short and skinny. Growing taller only made me even skinnier looking.

So all these years I was looking for ways to put on some weight. Everytime I see another weight loss ads I would be cussing a little deep inside and never quite understood how people could have the opposite type of problems when I could never put on any weight through my life.

Slowly, from 45kg in 2000, I moved up to around 50kg in 2002. Then from 2002 to 2006, slowly it moved upwards to 55kg. I remember in the end of 2006, I was drinking some protein drinks daily (by Appeton) for a month or two... that pushed me up to 58kg. My weight stayed there for another 2 years regardless of what I did, to the point of me wondering how come I could never break the 60kg mark. Finally, in 2009, after making weight gain 1 of my 3 resolutions for the year, my weight moved from 58kg to 65kg within months.

While I can pin point what I did differently beginning of the year from the rest of my life, I believe that it was actually a gradual change of my life style that eventually landed me at this very comfortable position. So I thought I would share for the people who are still trying to work out their ways to a more optimum weight.

Now that I am and have been in 65kg for almost a year now, I thought I would share some tips that may help all the people who are going through the same route. While I look forward to push my weight further past 65kg, maybe you can play some catch-ups. :)

Sleep Early And Sleep At Fixed Time, Preferably Before 11pm

Never under-estimate your sleep. Regular sleeping habits would not only regulate your metabolism rate, which is important because if you are the type that eats a lot and still not gaining any weight, the metabolism rate is way too high. It is nothing to be proud of. Sleeping at a regular time, allow your body to regulate the high metabolism rate, and you get to absorb more energy for your body building.

On top of that, this is often overlooked. It is very important that you sleep early so that you don't get hungry. Many many times I was sleeping soooo late, that my dinner was so digested... I would be so hungry, yet sleepy, so I would either swallow a few biscuits and be done with it, or just try to sleep through it. Neither is a wise choice.

Why? First, that few biscuits hardly have enough energy for me. High metabolism rate means I dig through all the food I ate really quickly. I would literally be hungry after 3 hours of having a meal. A few biscuits? Probably last me another 15 mins maybe. I am not sure if it's applicable for everyone, but when it's late and you are getting sleepy, somehow the appetite is shutting down a little too. You don't really feel like eating something heavy like a main meal rice dish etc. Okay sometimes I do cook some instant noodle to solve the hunger, but instant noodle itself don't have much energy too (more on in another article).

Now being skinny means that, your body hardly have any fats to be converted into glucose for digestion. Okay maybe it's not glucose. Point is, when your body does not have fats, the next best thing to convert into energy, would be your muscles. Yup. Your body is basically eating you alive that way. Whatever little muscle that you piled up in the day, gets digested in the night... That way you will never gain any weight at all!

That's why, sleep early and sleep at a fixed time. It's not just for the regulation of your metabolism rate, it is also crucial to conserve some of the food eaten during dinner for the sleeping time so that your body wouldn't be digesting your own self for energy.

In the early days when I was in Melbourne, if I ever allow myself to get hungry in the night, I would be attacked by chill all over my body. It was a very unpleasant feeling of having no energy to fight off the cold weather. It was very obvious whenever there is a dive in energy because you would slowly be feeling the chill, whereas in Malaysia it's not very obvious due to the hot weather. Still, your body works the same, although it probably does not require as much energy to live in the hot weather.

Wake Up Early And At A Fixed Time, Preferably Before 9am

Now sleeping early and at a fixed time isn't quite enough. You have to complement it with waking up early and also waking up at a fixed time. This may not be obvious to most, but waking up early and at a fixed time allows you to regulate your meal times, and indirectly your metabolism rate too.

If you eat at the same period of the day everyday, your body would adjust accordingly and so would your metabolism rate. With a more regulated metabolism rate, your body would burn energy faster when there are food in your tummy, and slows down when there isn't, not vice versa. So then you won't have all these food not being absorbed properly and efficiently because you happen to be eating them at the down time of your metabolism rate. Then obviously, even with the same amount of food, you would have more energy for the use of body building. There will be no need to push yourself too hard eating more and more each meal. :)

Eat At A Fixed Time

Now this point is very similar to the previous point of how eating at a fixed time would regulate your metabolism rate, though in a slightly different way.

Back then, I had this habit of eating only when I was hungry. My eating times were very inconsistent. Sometimes I might even skip my dinner, or eat a light supper dinner before I go to bed because I had my lunch way too late.

Normally it goes like this, I would feel somewhat hungry around 1pm. I would however continue doing my own things until 2pm when I really started feeling the hunger. Now I take another 30 mins to decide where to eat, and finally another 30 mins to drive there and take in my food... So by the time I arrive at the restaurant, my body has probably started converting some of my fats or muscles for energy. There goes all my previous body building efforts.

On top of that, I would be finishing my lunch now at 4pm. Then maybe I would feel somewhat hungry at 9pm, and getting really hungry around 10pm (I was eating more at this time so no more 3-hour hunger strike due to larger intake portion per meal). But hey there isn't much option available at 10pm in Melbourne back then, and sometimes deciding between McDonald's, KFC, or cooking your own food took another 30 mins. By the time I was really going to eat, it's 10.30pm and I could just eat something light and sleep in. But the 2 hours in between, again, my body had to get the energy from somewhere right? If I had no food in the tummy, where does it draw the energy from?

Fix a time to eat everyday. It could be like, 9 to 10am breakfast. 1 to 2pm lunch. 7 to 8pm dinner. You may not feel very hungry yet, go and eat anyway. You can choose to eat less if you are full, but keeping your stomach occupied is a very good idea if you want to put on some weight. Don't wait till you are hungry, and then beyond hungry... before you lay your hands on some food. Like I said, if the stomach is empty, then the body will have to draw the energy somewhere else. We don't want that to happen now do we?

The Truth Is...

While these are no shortcuts, they are surefire ways to gain more weight in the middle to long term. Good news is, when you start to stabilize at a comfortable weight, the "fixed timetable" is a lot more flexible. It might inhibit your weight growth, but it usually doesn't pull you back to skinniness.

All three of the points I mentioned require some discipline to achieve. Start with one of them and the rest will slowly follow. Sleeping early is a good one to start with because you would probably wake up early and get hungry about the right time too. :)

In the next part of the series, I shall share some short to medium term actions that you can take to work on your weight. Stay tuned. :)